I was disappointed that Sam Bradford didn’t suit up for the game against the Colts, but I wasn’t surprised. During OTA’s, there was actually part of me that accepted that I may or may not see Bradford at all during the preseason, and possibly not even to start the regular season.
When Chip Kelly made the announcement that Sam “would” play against the Ravens, immediately it made sense to me why the head coach would make such a decision. The Eagles are scrimmaging against the Ravens prior to the game on Saturday night. There are several obstacles that Sam Bradford will have to hurdle throughout his comeback, with the mental and emotional as important as the physical ones.
Bradford is going to have the opportunity to feel the pressure of an opposing defense not wearing an Eagles uniforms. He is going to see the black, purple and white jerseys coming his way at practice, but they won’t be making contact.
These are small steps. The entire process for Bradford has been one small step after the other.
I would expect Bradford to play into the second quarter come Saturday, but Chip may certainly have a different idea. It could be a matter of snaps, it could be a certain number of throws or something as simple as Chip saw enough. Maybe it’s just an offensive series, Chip treating it as the first preseason game for Bradford and not by the normal expectations for how long NFL starters play in the second preseason game.
Everything with Bradford is going to be handled differently, to expect anything could very well lead to feelings of disappointment.
What I need to see from Bradford is accuracy with his passes. The throws from Sanchez this past Sunday were awful, I don’t think Sanchez is as bad as he looked, but I know Sanchez has had his share of inaccuracy throughout his career.
Health, Bradford needs to walk away from the game feeling good, wake up feeling good, and feel good after the first postgame practice.
Sam Bradford is the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles. On Saturday, there could be very few of those throws that he has made in training camp and OTA’s that have people excited for his “potential.” The exact type of throws could be vanilla, all about footwork, timing and accuracy, little to no wow factor.
Chip could elect to have Bradford really test his arm, throwing a bomb down field for forty yards to Huff, or maybe a throw never goes past twenty yards. What does Chip want to see, need to see?
It’s an exciting time, not just because Eagles football is back, but because the mystery of Sam Bradford, his health, his readiness to finally play a meaningful snap has a premiere date, Saturday, August 22nd.
Since we’re talking QB’s let me give you all an update on Foles positive remarks after getting crushed in his first preseason game with the Rams.
“”We’ve got a ways to go,” Foles said after his first action as a Ram. “But with these guys, we can do it. It was great being out there.”
See? He loves his guys.
Fisher covered his QB’s inability to move in the pocket….
Fisher had stressed the importance of keeping Foles clean, not only in the preseason opener but this season in general. But Saffold’s replacement at left guard, Brandon Washington, gave up sacks on back-to-back plays to kill Foles’ second series.
Fellas `i seen the game and Foles could have stepped up to avoid getting crushed.
Boy, i’m glad that bum is longer an Eagle.
Bradford Baby!!!!!!
There is a lot of excitement just to see Bradford step on the football field, sporting the Eagles jersey.
The upside to what he offers to the QB position is as good as when McNabb was in his prime.
Vick had a stat inflated stretch as did Foles, but Bradford really gives you that top level guy unders center.
So we are cheering for a DNP? that seems strange.
From Bill Barnwell (Grantland) yesterday on exactly what Songs brings up:
This only leaves the other side of the football as an enormous question mark. It must be exciting for Rams fans to see that the questions have changed, at the very least. Years of waiting for Sam Bradford to break out have finally come to an end, with Bradford shipped to Philadelphia in a deal that sent the Rams an upgrade in draft picks (albeit for a pick they’ll wait to receive until next year and in a deal subject to Bradford’s health this season) and a possible quarterback of the future in Nick Foles.
Foles will likely be one of the six players starting for St. Louis in Week 1 against Seattle who weren’t in the starting lineup for the Rams during last year’s season opener. He’ll likely be St. Louis’s starter for the next two seasons after signing a two-year extension last week. The contract pushed $4.5 million in guaranteed new money into Foles’s pocket this season, with the Rams gaining the opportunity to have Foles signed to a below-market deal in 20162 while retaining the flexibility to move on. They’ll owe Foles only $8.8 million next year; if he totally flops, the Rams could cut him without sinking their entire team. And if he plays well, the Rams basically buy a year at a fraction of the franchise tag rate.
While we’re all going to be comparing Foles to Bradford, given that the deal represented a rare challenge trade of quarterbacks, the reality is that Foles doesn’t have to outplay Bradford in 2015 to represent an upgrade for the Rams. He just has to be an upgrade on the combination of Bradford, Kellen Clemens, Austin Davis, and Shaun Hill, each of whom have started between seven and nine games for the Rams over the past couple of seasons.
On talent alone, Foles should be able to do that. He’s been blessed to play underneath a pair of quarterback whisperers in Philadelphia, but even outside of the tutelage of Andy Reid and Chip Kelly, Foles should be better than a group of (Bradford aside) replacement-level quarterbacks. Even if Foles was never the star that Eagles fans deluded themselves into thinking he might be after the 2013 season, he’s certainly a quarterback with strengths. He’s developed a better sense of anticipation in terms of throwing routes open; there aren’t many players who make this throw to Jeremy Maclin against the 49ers, even if it required an insane catch from Maclin.
Foles would be an upgrade on Bradford, specifically, by virtue of his propensity to get the ball downfield. Both Bradford and Foles have strong arms, but as I wrote about before Bradford tore his ACL last season, the former first overall pick appeared to have some sort of mental block that kept him from throwing downfield with any sort of frequency or effectiveness. With Bradford out of the lineup over the past year and a half, the Rams have thrown downfield far more frequently and effectively, even with a relatively anonymous batch of quarterbacks under center.
Over his first three pro seasons, Foles has posted a 93.7 QBR on throws 15 yards or more downfield, the league’s seventh-best rate over that time frame. During his career, Bradford generated a QBR of just 59.5 on those same throws, ranking 27th out of 29 qualifying passers. And after Week 7 of the 2013 season, when Bradford last suited up for the Rams before tearing his ACL the first time, Rams passers have put up a 78.2 QBR on those same 15-plus-yard throws. Bradford may very well turn things around and be more effective throwing deep in Philadelphia — he’ll have to if he wants to run Kelly’s offense — but that hasn’t been the case in St. Louis.
The same thing helping Foles to succeed on those deep throws is what I’m afraid could hurt him in St. Louis. Like other large quarterbacks of his ilk, Foles is tough to a fault. He takes hits in the pocket in an attempt to extend plays and get guys open, which is why he was sacked on 8.1 percent of his dropbacks in 2013, even while playing behind what was then the best offensive line in football. That sack rate fell dramatically to 2.8 percent last year, but that was because Foles was more aggressive to get rid of the football before those hits. Football Outsiders notes that Foles was knocked down 34 times in eight games; had he been able to stay healthy and been hit at the same rate, his 68 knockdowns would have ranked second in the league behind Andrew Luck.3
That, sadly for Rams fans who are sick of worrying about their quarterback’s health after Bradford, would be my biggest concern with Foles. It’s not that Foles has struggled to stay healthy for an entire season. It’s that he hasn’t even been able to make it past a half-season without suffering a meaningful injury. As a rookie in 2012, a hairline fracture in his hand ended his season after six starts. During that breakout 2013 season, Foles suffered a concussion during his second start that knocked him out of the lineup; he came back two weeks later and threw for seven touchdowns against the Raiders, starting the final eight games of the year. He matched that eight-game streak before breaking his collarbone against the Texans last season.
The right situation for Foles almost certainly requires an above-average offensive line, which is difficult to picture with the 2015 Rams. St. Louis has repeatedly struggled to build its line during its decade-long rebuild, and this offseason marked the latest in demolitions. The Rams cut big-ticket free agents Jake Long and Scott Wells, moved on from faded veteran Davin Joseph, and allowed right tackle Joe Barksdale to leave in free agency without making a serious offer to retain him.
The new line is full of question marks. They’ve moved the money to the left side, where 2014 second overall pick Greg Robinson will start his first full season at left tackle alongside guard Rodger Saffold. The rest of the line is unproven. Center Barrett Jones was a star in college at Alabama, but injuries have limited the fourth-rounder to just 23 offensive snaps over 10 games in two seasons as a pro. The likely starters on the right side are a pair of rookies, with second-rounder Rob Havenstein in at tackle and third-rounder Jamon Brown slotted in at guard. There’s certainly talent up and down the line, but given how bad the Rams have been at developing offensive linemen for years, why would they suddenly get better now?
I figure some would be anointing Matt Barkley the starter using season’s past “Fair and Square” QB competition rules.
Vinniedaloser, you just cant let go…it over…Foles is gone…this is a brand new season and you are still longing for Foles…the article you bring here tells us this:
“That, sadly for Rams fans who are sick of worrying about their quarterback’s health after Bradford, would be my biggest concern with Foles. It’s not that Foles has struggled to stay healthy for an entire season. It’s that he hasn’t even been able to make it past a half-season without suffering a meaningful injury.”
Songs is right…Foles wont step up into the pocket…he’s shot, nervous, scared and the Rams are going no where.
Meanwhile, we see some potential with Sam Bradford, we see on the money throws, we see an offensive line that’s going to keep pressure off of him and running game. No doubt we gambled…but Chip is taking the shot…there was nothing to gain with that bum ass Foles so
Chip made the right move and hopefully Sam will stay healthy so we can forget about your whines and moans for Nervous Nick Foles!
You opened the thread.
Gosder Cherilus signed a 2 year 7 million dollar contract with Tampa Bay to protect Famous Jameis. Evan Mathis bypassed.
TB Bucs lost 2 OT’s to Injuries so far this Camp and starter RT D Dotson is out for the Years with a Torn ACL from Saturday’s Game vs the Vikings
.. Evan Mathis is a Guard and would not help the Bucs at OT
With some of the offensive line issues in both Minnesota and seattle, I would have thought that both run heavy teams would consider kicking one of their current guards out to tackle and sign mathis.
I would have to assume he would need to be in camp with a team the week before heading into 3rd preseason game, but stranger things in the nfl have happened.
zero– so lets get this straight…in the nfl, the most competitive, lucrative sport in the country a few months ago the sky was falling around here because we cut mathis. allteams have played at least one preseason game, injuries are happening everywhere, OL play is of utmost importance to ALL teams as protecting the QB is paramount….YET THE GREAT EVAN MATHIS IS STILL UNEMPLOYED???? what? you must be kidding!!!!
Over reaction cobb is what this site should be called!
hac, I would have to believe that Rosenhause is still thinking that he can get a deal comparable to the one that they lost here. That is probably the reason for a lack of any interest, but we also know that he is an older player and few teams want to spend $5mill on an aging guard.
greenie you can believe that and there may be some truth to it but really they have to come to the reality that the deal they had with the eagles was a whole lot better than anything they can get now. It was an extreme overplay on their part. its getting late in the game and he is on the scrap heap–
No doubt. Agree 100%. Mathis blew this one big time.
You are right on this one all the way , Mathis and Rosenhaus badly miscalculated his coming salary potential. I am sure he will sign up at some point with a team for in or close to the $3 million range. with bonuses. purely a bad miscalculation, plus he miscalculated Chip , both bad moves . Does not happen too often with Rosenhaus .
My Sources have Mathis singing with the Broncos,Colts or Dolphins here in the next Week or So.. Mathis wants to Play for Arizona/SD Charges who just don’t need him at this point
remember a couple of weeks ago when you wrote that post ranting how you dont get why people care what players who are no longer on their team are doing now that they are no longer on the team? and said that once they leave the eagles you could care less?
flip flop? you got gps on mathis
Sure old man weren’t those the same sources that were telling you that Tom Donahoe was eventually going to take over as GM.
No Mac, those Sources have long passed-on… It’s Chip Kelly’s Show now..
I am not even sure where Tom Donahue is these days… He’s Probably retired by now..
***NFL News****
Buffalo Bills RB LeSean McCoy leaves Practices with a thigh,hamstring injury and needed help to leave the field..An MRI is Scheduled for the morning to be safe but it appears to be a pulled hamstring per HC Ryan ..
More Bills News
Problem Player Percy Harvin due to miss another Week and has a history of not wanting to ever Practice going back to his U of Florida Days to the Vikings to the Seahawks to the Jets and now the Bills… He’s probably one of the most disliked Players in the NFL by other Players,Coach’s &Staff …